Thunder Bay, Canada

The Building Capacity Project is funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada as part of the country’s National Dementia Strategy. It is an action research initiative in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Vancouver, British Columbia. The initiative works through an asset-based community development approach to help communities build capacity for and with people with dementia, by making existing programs and spaces for inclusive, and by developing new programs involving social, recreational, and creative activities.

In Thunder Bay, the initiative is a partnership between Lakehead University and the North West Dementia Working Group, an advocacy group of people with lived experience of dementia, care partners, and researchers. The project is centred in Thunder Bay, a regional centre with a population of 100,000, as well as surrounding rural communities.